When the Day Met the Night
by SheWillBeLoved013
Summary: This is when Ziva first met Tony. My interpretation with the idea that they are soul mates. Which they are. Title is from a Panic! At the Disco song.


_Okay, so I was rewatching Truth or Consequences and saw how much their relationship has changed. I know it's been done several times over, but I decided to take a crack at it. Let me know what you think. Tags to episode 3x1, Kill Ari (pt. 1) and 5x8, Designated Target. Also to 7x13, Jet Lag. I mean, come on. A good Tiva story has to go something like Jet Lag did. _

_Disclaimer: Me no own NCIS. Obviously. Sad face. _

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The first time she meets him, he is talking to air. She smirks slightly. She had to do dossiers on every team member. His name is Anthony DiNozzo and he was an actual cop before becoming a Navy one. She slinks into the bullpen and the expression on his face is priceless. He makes up some halfhearted excuse she doesn't believe. Judging by the look on his face, he didn't expect her to.

One thing that Ziva doesn't believe is the man himself. His picture said that he was attractive and Ziva deduced that he was probably a player. But then why was all her Mossad training failing her now? One simple smile and she finds herself the opposite of the calm, cool, and collected agent she saw coming in here. Suddenly she was doing silly hand movements. Still, there is something about him.

Maybe, it's the fact that he says that he plays charades on Saturday night. That is so ludicrous; she voices the thought out loud. He immediately changes the subject. Alright, maybe he was more business than she had assumed. And here she thought that Gibbs was the only one to watch out for. She was going to have to be cautious with this one. Obviously, Ari had only thought Gibbs worth his time.

She introduces herself and finds the look on his face when she says she is Mossad oddly endearing. She cannot help but mock him. It is just too easy. When he asks her how she knows that he is not Gibbs, she can't help but snort. How dumb does this man think she is? She plops down on the desk next to his to see what he does. She likes to test people.

She asks again. He turns away from her and the miniscule part of her that has not been taken over by Mossad is oddly disappointed. When he asks her if she is sure that he cannot help her, she has a sudden urge to help him with _other_ things. The rational part of her brain is shocked. This is not like her. She returns to playfulness, where she is safe.

When he introduces himself to her, she takes mental notes like she is trained. He prefers Tony as opposed to Anthony. She agrees. Tony suits him better. She also notices how his body language suggests defeat and fatigue, but his eyes have certain strength to them, encompassed by the grief. She remembers that he had lost his partner. When he speaks of remembering her, she recalls the conversation she walked in on. Perhaps they had been more than partners.

She also notes that when she mentions him imagining her naked, he gets defensive. Another notation is made, easily gets defensive. She cannot help but to tease him. He just made it so damn easy. She found herself liking this Tony. She also notes that bringing up his late partner and sex strikes a nerve. She quickly apologizes; for fear that he will stop talking. She has only known this man for mere minutes and she is already falling for him.

Her hair being up is starting to hurt, so she takes it out. The look on his face turns from sadness to a combination of lust and amazement. Another note, he likes long hair. She is surprised and flattered by the look. She has him figured for a pushover. She thinks that she will not have a hard time getting information out of this one. When he realizes what she is doing however, she goes back to her first assumption. This man is too smart for his own good. She likes how he takes it in stride, though.

When she tells him, a bit reluctantly, about why she is here his reaction is both what she expected and what she did not. She expected to say that he wanted Ari dead too. What she did not expect was the way he said that he would wish her luck. This had her pulling back as she imagined them meeting on different circumstances.

So she decides to freak him out by telling him what she knows about him. What she did not say was that she was shocked to learn that he was rich and also felt a little sorry for him when she had found out he was cut off at twelve. Such a tender age to be cut off. She also knew that it had been boarding school after boarding school. She interpreted this from a child's point of view; he felt that no one wanted him around. Upon reading this, she had felt a sort of sympathy for little twelve-year-old Tony.

The elevator saved her from not having to answer his question.

The next time she meets him, she knows he has been following her. She admits to herself that he is not half bad at tailing. For a cop. She feels sorry for him; she knows how miserable tailing can get. So she gets two cups of coffee as a metaphorical white flag. She is surrendering. For tonight. She walks down and out the door. He is resting on the edge of the building, looking out at the rain, a box of pizza in his hand. Another notation, he likes pizza. She offers him coffee. She assures him it is not a bribe. She is charmed by the expression he gives when she explained how she knew he was tailing her.

She smiles slightly when he takes the one she did not offer him.

"_Hmm, maybe he is more cautious than the others. Gibbs probably would have not taken it. He wants to seem friendlier. Possibly a tactic to make me talk"_

She tells him not to feel bad. She did not want to hurt his feelings. She laughs when he says he likes Mossad's modesty. Then, she asks him for pizza. He ambles back to her. She thanks him in Hebrew, only to be told she is welcome in Italian. She has never smiled this much. She eats the pizza and stares at the rain; he is silent next to her. She feels that she must say something.

Out of all the people, she had to tell of her dear sister's demise, it had to be him. They begin to talk about Mossad. For some reason, though, it seems so far away. It feels like, just for this moment, Ari, Mossad, Kate, and terrorists do not exist. It is just two people. Her and him. Tony and Ziva. Nothing else, just two people standing in the rain. Talking.

He laughs when she teases him. Says that she almost got him off the question, almost. She finds herself thinking again, that she had severely underestimated this man. The severity of his gaze makes her uncomfortable. She puts her coffee cup on top of his and says goodnight. He says it back, again in Italian. She can feel him staring after her even as the door shuts. She feels that gaze even as she gets ready to sleep. It is the last thing she sees and the thing she dreams about.

_Two years later, when she is sitting next to a woman who asks her if she has met her soul mate, she thinks back to the night she met Tony. And of how his gaze was in her dreams until saw him again. Also about how, even now, she still dreams about that night. Whenever she does, she wakes up, confused. It always feels so real. Until it isn't. She asks him about soul mates and then tells him he will never get it. All the while, she hopes she is wrong._

_Two years after that, in a hotel in Paris, she will lay awake thinking about these two incidents. Then, she turns to the man sleeping next to her. A man who can be very loosely defined as her partner. He is really so much more. She will sigh and turn over. He will wrap his arms around her waist and plant a kiss on her neck. They will fall asleep and tell no one of what transpired. Just like that moment in the rain oh so long ago, this moment is just for them. The world does not exist. The sky is golden as the man who is as bright and cheery as day holds, ever so delicately, a woman whose past is as dark as night._

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_This was a lot longer than expected. Please forgive me. Review and let me know how I did. _


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